Tim Daly Superman: the voice of Clark Kent in the 1990s animated series

Tim Daly Superman: who is the actor?

James Timothy Daly was born on March 1, 1956, in New York. The son of actors James Daly and Hope Newell and the brother of Tyne Daly, he graduated from Bennington College in 1979. The movies took notice of him in Barry Levinson's Diner, in 1982. The wider public then came to know him as Joe Hackett, the level-headed pilot on Wings, the NBC sitcom that ran from 1990 to 1997.

For a Superman fan, his name points to the mic, not the costume. Tim Daly is the voice of Clark Kent and Superman in the 1990s animated series. This page is about the actor, not the show: the series already has its own page. Among the actors who have played Superman, Daly sits on the animated branch: you hear him, but you don't see him in the cape.

Tim Daly Superman in the 1990s animated series

The series premieres on September 6, 1996, on Kids' WB and ends on February 12, 2000. Four seasons, 54 episodes. Alan Burnett, Bruce Timm, and Paul Dini produce it. Andrea Romano directs the voice cast. Daly is credited in every season, as Clark, as Superman, and also as Bizarro when the imperfect double appears.

He is 40 when the first episode airs. Wings is still running: the NBC sitcom ends on May 21, 1997, eight months after the animated series launches. So the Superman mic is not a job for an unknown: it goes to a sitcom face who is still on the air. In 2020, DC.com publishes a piece by Daly that places that first recording “nearly 25 years” earlier. In it, he describes a character who “really IS truth, justice and the American way” — his own reading, not a script instruction.

We do not retell the Darkseid arc or the creation of Mercy Graves here. What matters for this page: for four years, the voice of Clark Kent and the voice of the man in flight are one and the same, and it belongs to Daly. The series has its article; Daly has this one.

Around the mic: Delany, Kaufman, Brown

Daly does not record alone. Dana Delany is Lois Lane. David Kaufman is Jimmy Olsen. George Dzundza is Perry White. Clancy Brown is Lex Luthor. Corey Burton is Brainiac. Michael Ironside is Darkseid. Lisa Edelstein is Mercy Graves, created for this series before she made the jump to print. Mike Farrell and Shelley Fabares are Jonathan and Martha Kent.

Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman in the sister series, crosses paths with Daly when the two capes meet. This is not yet the weekly League: these are crossovers. For Lois Lane, Delany remains Daly's partner for the run of the series, then reunites with him in 2006 in Superman: Brainiac Attacks.

These names do one job: place Daly within an ensemble, not retell every villain. If you want Lex, Darkseid, or the Planet, the character pages are there. The takeaway here: Clark's voice has a stable Lois, Jimmy, and Lex across four seasons.

2001: why Justice League switches voices

In 2001, Cartoon Network launches Justice League. Superman keeps roughly the same design, aged a little, but gets a new voice. George Newbern takes over the role, then keeps it in Justice League Unlimited (2004-2006). Daly is not in it. This is not a forum rumor: Wikipedia, Andrea Romano's interview, and Newbern's IMDb notes all say so.

The reason often given: Daly is under contract at the time for the TV remake of The Fugitive, which aired from October 2000 to May 2001. Romano, for her part, says he had less availability — he had settled in Rhode Island and was producing more. Both explanations can coexist. We are not picking just one.

Romano also points out that the team was not looking for a sound-alike. New series, new cast. Newbern, known among other things for the Father of the Bride films, “sounds very similar to Tim Daly,” she says — a resemblance noticed after the fact, not a casting requirement. Clark's place on the League team is a topic for another article. Here the fact is simple: in 2001, it is no longer Daly.

The films where Daly returns as Superman

The mic does not switch off in 2000. On June 20, 2006, Warner releases Superman: Brainiac Attacks on DVD. Daly and Delany are in it. The art style recalls the series; yet writer Duane Capizzi has said the film does not belong to the DCAU. Here Lex is voiced by Powers Boothe, not Clancy Brown. Brainiac is voiced by Lance Henriksen, not Corey Burton. You can enjoy the film; you just don't count it as a lost episode.

On September 29, 2009, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies comes out. Daly reunites with Kevin Conroy in it. On September 28, 2010, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse follows: Daly is still Superman, Summer Glau is Kara. These are films from the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line, not the 1996 series.

On February 28, 2012, Justice League: Doom calls him back. The Warner Home Video press release presents him as the voice from the 1990s series, already heard in Public Enemies and Apocalypse. Newbern, the voice of Superman in the Justice League series, was not available, according to IMDb notes: Daly fills in for him. The loop is the reverse of 2001. Daly's Wikipedia page also mentions the game Superman: Shadow of Apokolips; we note it as an often-cited credit, without presenting it with a release date cross-checked here.

Batman Beyond: a Superman without Daly's voice

In November 2000, Batman Beyond devotes two episodes to Superman: “The Call,” on the 11th and the 18th. The voice is not Daly's. It is Christopher McDonald, who had already voiced Jor-El in the 1996 series. Behind The Voice Actors and McDonald's Wikipedia page confirm it.

A version circulating among commentators (TV Tropes, among others) says Daly was available, and that Bruce Timm chose McDonald so that an older Superman would have the voice of his biological father. That is a behind-the-scenes explanation, not a Warner press release. We pass it on as a reported hypothesis. The fact itself fits in one line: on those two episodes, it is not Tim Daly.

It is an easy trap to fall into. You hear “1990s-2000s animated Superman” and you credit Daly everywhere. But 1996-2000 is him; 2000 on Beyond is McDonald; 2001-2006 on the League is Newbern; 2006-2012 on some films is Daly again. The timeline is more fragmented than memory suggests.

On camera: Wings, The Fugitive, Madam Secretary

Before the mic, Daly is already a TV headliner. Wings, from 1990 to 1997, shows him as Joe Hackett across 172 episodes: a Nantucket airport, a brother played by Steven Weber, an NBC sitcom. That is the role bios still cite, nearly thirty years later. In 2000 he moves to the remake of The Fugitive — the contract that explains, in part, his absence from the League.

On HBO, he is J.T. Dolan on The Sopranos, a screenwriter struggling with addiction: the role earns him a guest actor Emmy nomination in 2007. From 2007 to 2012, he is Pete Wilder on Private Practice, a spin-off of Grey's Anatomy. From 2014 to 2019, he is Henry McCord on Madam Secretary, the husband of the secretary of state played by Téa Leoni, across 120 episodes.

None of this is a Superman film. It only explains why a sitcom actor ends up voicing Clark, then why the 2000-2001 schedule no longer leaves him room for the League. In 2025, IMDb lists him as married to Leoni. That is not the subject of this page.

Don't mix them up: Daly, Newbern, Quaid, Corenswet

Tim Daly is not George Newbern. He is not Christopher McDonald. He is not Jack Quaid in My Adventures with Superman, a 2023 series whose Clark is another actor, another art style, another network. He is not David Corenswet, Henry Cavill, or Christopher Reeve either: those are the ones you see on screen.

Justice League: Doom (2012) is not the 2001 Justice League series. Brainiac Attacks is not a 1998 episode. Sam Daly, Tim's son, is a different actor — he appears on Madam Secretary and he, too, voices Superman in Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013).

If you sort the Supermen by generation, Daly is the late-1990s Kids' WB voice. Newbern is the 2000s Cartoon Network voice. Quaid is the 2020s Adult Swim voice. In live action you also have Henry Cavill and Tom Welling. Three mics, several faces, one character name.

Where to hear Tim Daly as Superman

The core remains the 1996-2000 series: 54 episodes. After that: Brainiac Attacks (2006), Public Enemies (2009), Apocalypse (2010), and Doom (2012). In the 2001 League and in Batman Beyond, it is not him. For the Apocalypse film, the blog already has the story; here we keep only the vocal credit.

On camera, Wings and Madam Secretary are the two titles bios still attach to his name. That is not Superman catch-up viewing. It is the career that made the 1996 casting possible, and the 2001 gap understandable.

To see a live-action Clark, you have Reeve, Cavill, Corenswet. For an animated Clark of the 2020s, you have Quaid. For the Kids' WB Clark, it is Daly — four seasons, then a handoff, then films.

Conclusion

Tim Daly voiced Clark and Superman for four seasons, from 1996 to 2000, then in four films released on video. In 2001, the League moves to George Newbern. In 2000, Batman Beyond moves to Christopher McDonald. The voice is not a single block: it comes with dates.

The series has its article. The Apocalypse film and the League have theirs. Here the focus stays on the actor: a Wings actor turned Kids' WB voice, then a handoff, then a return.